1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to the field of smart power meter monitoring. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for communication between a smart power meter and data concentrators.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Current trends in the needs and methods of energy distribution have encouraged the use of so-called “smart meters”, meters capable at least of being read remotely. Data can be collected from and sent to a smart meter remotely, i.e., without a human having to be present at the location of the meter. As energy prices increase, the number of users on the energy grid increase, and the sources of power feeding into the grid increase, the need for smart power metering has only become more pressing.
Currently, smart power meters have been proposed that may monitor electricity usage, cap maximum usage, turn power on or off at a given location, detect outages, and detect unauthorized use. Many current smart power meters utilize an embedded optical network unit (ONU) to interface between the data concentrator, a device receiving data from a large number of smart meters, via an Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON) and the smart power meters. The EPON ONU's have at least two drawbacks: they are relatively expensive and they consume significant amounts of power. This makes the deployment and use of smart power meters more expensive for consumers and utilities.
With large numbers of smart power meters needed to be installed to facilitate envisioned smart grid technologies, the use of smart power meters is expected to increase significantly in the coming years. What is needed is a smart power meter system with better ability to transmit data collected by smart meters to a data concentrator.